Telecom Services

Dark Fiber Leasing

JEA possesses an important communications infrastructure asset called “dark fiber.” Dark fiber refers to unused fiber-optic cable. The optical fiber conveys information in the form of light pulses so the "dark" means no light pulses are being sent. The dark fiber strands can be leased to companies that want to establish optical connections among their own locations.

JEA leases routes along an extensive 500 mile fiber-optic network throughout the Jacksonville metropolitan area, which means Jacksonville has more fiber in the ground than any city in Northeast Florida. Many run in close proximity to critical commercial and industrial locations.

JEA’s fiber network runs both underground and overhead throughout Duval County, as well as in parts of St. Johns and Nassau Counties. Our dedicated team of telecommunications experts will help you select a route that best serves your communication needs.

Wireless Co-location

JEA’s Utility infrastructure assets present a wide variety of co-location opportunities for Wireless Networks along our 6,625 miles of electric distribution lines and 745 circuit miles of transmission lines. These assets are located throughout our service territory, which includes Duval, St. Johns and Nassau Counties. JEA has been working with the Wireless Providers since 1996 and continues to offer infrastructure solutions to enhance the Providers network and end customer experience.

Macro Site Solutions

A large fleet of Communication Towers

Over 5000 Electric Transmission Structures for Macro site installations

Small Cell Solutions

With evolving wireless technologies JEA has the solutions with over 200,000 Electric Distribution and Street Light Poles for your Small Cell deployments.

Work with JEA for Your Wireless Co-location Needs

High quality tower locations throughout NE Florida.

Heightened security at Utility sites.

Fast site selection and development.

Speed to market.

Dedicated team to meet your needs.

Backhaul opportunities with JEA’s Dark Fiber Program.

JEA delivers the same great performance and reliability we’re known for in the utility industry to the leasing and maintenance of our colocation assets.

Jacksonville: A Growing Telecom Hub

It’s hard to talk about JEA’s new Dark Fiber Leasing Program without also talking about
JAX NAP, a data center and network access point (NAP) located in Downtown Jacksonville.

JAX NAP provides a connection point for direct fiber optic paths to Atlanta, Miami and Dallas. Right now, there are only five NAPs east of the Mississippi River.

"Having JAX NAP in Jacksonville is equivalent to having an NFL franchise in the city,” said Gary Vondrasek, JEA’s Program Manager for dark fiber leasing. “It puts Jacksonville on the map as a hub for telecommunications.”

In addition to being a hub for local fiber optic connections, JAX NAP connects to two subsea fiber optic cable systems in Jacksonville Beach. These subsea cables run deep under the ocean all the way to Central/South America and the Caribbean. A third sub-sea cable is expected to be in operation by late 2017. With these subsea cables, JAX NAP can send users data directly to over 40 countries.

“With anticipated strategic partnerships between JEA and our internet providers, JEA will be able to offer one-stop electric, utility and network services to new and existing customers,” said JAX NAP Senior Partner Luke Leonaitis. “This asset will be another feather in the cap of Jacksonville’s competitiveness both regionally, nationally and internationally to businesses and corporations considering making our metropolitan area their home.”

Testimonials

Joytel Wireless Communications, an internet provider based in Jacksonville, likes to compare themselves to Google Fiber. Just like Google Fiber has done in other cities, Joytel is taking advantage of utility fiber optics, in this case JEA’s, to expand its business.

One of Joytel’s subsidiaries, GoRACK, a data center Downtown, recently won the contract to provide colocation services to JaxPort.

“We are giving them ten times the bandwidth and connectivity for half the price of their traditional provider,” said GoRACK Customer Relations Manager Jonathan Stahle, who said he was able to win this contract thanks to JEA Dark Fiber. “JEA had the foresight to lay dark fiber a while ago. And for us, it completed the puzzle. It allowed us to bring that last bit of connectivity to JaxPort,” Stahle said.

Dark fiber refers to unused fiber-optic cable. The optical fiber conveys information in the form of light pulses so the "dark" means no light pulses are being sent. Joytel leased some of JEA’s dark fiber strands to establish the final leg of its optical connection to JaxPort.

“We have 500 miles of extensive fiber routes throughout the Jacksonville metropolitan area,” said Gary Vondrasek, program manager for JEA Dark Fiber Leasing. “Many of those routes run in close proximity to critical commercial and industrial locations.”

JEA’s fiber network runs both underground and overhead throughout Duval County, as well as in parts of St. Johns and Nassau Counties. And that’s just what Joytel’s President and CEO Mark Marques hopes to take full advantage of someday.

“This great, low-cost bandwidth is really going to be an incentive to businesses to move to Jacksonville, especially Downtown Jacksonville,” Marques said. “Having a raw asset in dark fiber from JEA enables us to be more than competitive on our pricing. I am going to be JEA’s best dark fiber customer!”

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Related Links

The JEA Economic Development Program is designed to provide a financial incentive for new commercial or industrial customers or existing customers who expand their business and add new jobs within the JEA service area.

JEA’s team of Account Executives, their manager and director, understand that JEA’s largest commercial and industrial customers have different needs than the rest of JEA’s customer base. This team of men and women know who best to call to solve problems quickly and efficiently, while at the same time keeping large commercial and industrial customers up-to-date with new JEA policies and programs.